Chargers stay terminated

The Indian cricket board's move to terminate the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Deccan Chargers last month got the legal seal on Friday, as the owners failed to furnish the bank guarantee sought by the Bombay High Court.

The court declined to grant any further time to the Deccan Chronicle Holdings Limited (DCHL) for furnishing an unconditional bank guarantee of Rs 100 crore to the BCCI in order to retain the franchise.

The DCHL approached the High Court on Friday, seeking three more days (till October 15) for furnishing the bank guarantee, but the judge rejected the plea. The court had restrained the BCCI on October 1 from taking further action on their September 14 letter terminating the franchise contract.

According to the order, the injunction was to remain until the dispute between the BCCI and DCHL was sorted, subject to the condition that the DCHL would furnish and unconditional bank guarantee of R100 crore to the Indian board.

The bank guarantee of a nationalised bank had been sought to ensure the expenses of IPL-6 and the BCCI had been given the liberty to invoke the bank guarantee to the extent necessary for meeting the required expenditure. The DCHL had approached the High Court on September 15 a day after the BCCI issued a communication terminating their franchise agreement on the ground that the franchise had not paid outstanding dues of its players --- both Indian and foreign.

Contract breachedThe BCCI plea was that the DCHL, by doing this, had breached the terms and conditions of the franchise contract.

But even as the DCHL was pleading for an extension to furnish the bank guarantee, it reportedly informed the stock exchange on Friday morning that it had sold the team to Kamla Landmarc Group, a Mumbai-based real estate firm.

However, just when it appeared that the Deccan Chargers' deadline for furnishing the bank guarantee was going to expire at 5pm, the top brass of the firm went silent on the issue.

HT tried to get in touch with the company's top brass, including its chairman Ramesh Jain, but only this response from the office: "The Board is in a meeting at the moment and none of the top officials is available for comment."